FMSD, NOC officials deny receiving final list of track and field athletes from AFN Secretary General, Moshindi
Claims made by Rita Moshindi, the Secretary General of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, that she presented the Final List (of track and field athletes) to the Ministry of Sports Development and the Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC, via Whatsapp messaging has been denied by the officers she mentioned.
Mrs Moshindi in her testimony to the Investigative Committee set up by the former Sports Development Minister to unravel, among other issues, why Favour Ofili was not registered for the 100m event despite qualifying to compete, said she ‘presented the Final List to Ministry of Sports Development via Whatsapp messaging to Abdulmumeen Sagaya of the Federations and Elite Athletes Department (FEAD) ostensibly for submission to the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC).’
She also ‘claimed that she submitted the Final List directly to the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) via a Whatsapp platform created by Emmanuel Nweri of the NOC for that purpose, and other documentation and interface between the Sports Federations and the NOC.’
Sagaya and Nweri have denied receiving such a list from Mrs Mosindi and the Committee said in its 56 page report that ‘Rita Moshindi could not provide convincing documentary evidence of the WhatsApp message allegedly because she lost at the Olympics her mobile phone containing the conversations.’
Nweri further told the Committee that the AFN Secretary General ‘DID NOT submit the list either on the Whatsapp platform or directly to him when he requested for it.’
Samuel Fadele, the man solely responsible for the inscription of the names, events and team compositions entered for all Nigerian athletes in every sport at the Paris
2024 Olympic Games on the Olympic Games Management System (OGMS) of the International Olympics Committee (IOC) portal also denied getting any list from Mrs Moshindi.
Fadele claimed that ‘he only inscribed (ticked off) the 200 meters and 4X100 meters events for the athlete Favour Ofili because only the 200 meters showed up on the pre-populated IOC portal for Ofili’s individual events entry, while he got the entry for Ofili’s 4X100 meters from Rita Mosindi of AFN.
‘He claimed further that Rita Mosindi of AFN did not submit the Final List of Athletes to him or to the NOC that he might have used to cross-check the events entered for each athlete on the IOC portal,’ Fadele told the Committee, insisting he did not forget to tick the 100m event for Ofili as it was not on the list of events he had for the athlete.
The Committee wrote that ‘Fadele claimed that if he had forgotten or deliberately omitted to tick Favour Ofili’s name for an event that had been pre-populated (pre-loaded) for Ofili on the portal, the portal would have rejected his submission.’
The Committee revealed Fadele’s claim was cross-checked by it using the Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the internet.
‘His (Fadele’s) claim was confirmed that he would not have been able to submit his entries for Favour Ofili if he had not fully confirmed Ofili for all the events Ofili was entered for on the portal,’ the Committee wrote and recommended sanctions for Mrs Moshindi.
‘The Secretary General of Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), RITA MOSINDI should be penalized by the appropriate authority for NEGLIGENCE in her duties and that her reliance on social media WhatsApp messaging as the only means of official communication does not speak well of her competence as an administrative officer,’ the Committee recommended.
